Universities in Nigeria may be gearing up for several strikes in 2024 due to the small budget allotted to the education sector and poor remuneration, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has disclosed.
Prof. Emmanuel Oshodeke who is the Chairman of the body of lecturers while speaking in an interview on Monday explained that during the campaign and election earlier this year, President Bola Tinubu promised to increase the Education sector to at least 15 per cent or over.
It will be recalled that, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation also recommended for member states, a 26 per cent benchmark allocation for the education sector.
He complained that Nigeria was the country with the least remuneration for professors, globally.
Oshodeke, however, said that ASUU was dejected when the 2024 education budget was announced to be N2.18tr or 7.9 per cent of the budget.
He reiterated that it was the same figure during the Buhari government, adding that not much progress would be made in the sector; if the budget was not increased.
Oshodeke advised the government to meet with the cabinet members and increase the budget to 15 or more.
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‘With this seven per cent education budget, nothing will change in the sector, it is just as we had during Buhari’s time. Tinubu during his campaign promised to increase the education budget but nothing.
‘However, there is still a chance for him, to change. But if no improvement on this and our other demands, by next year, we will mobilise our people and we can’t stay like this because Oyo State has 15 per cent and Enugu State budgeted 32 per cent for education, but FG is giving less than eight per cent.
‘He can still increase it, they should liaise with the executives and come out with a budget that is not less than 15 per cent as he promised during the election.’
National president, The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Dr Anderson Ezeibe, also told reporters that ‘It is demoralising to see the allocation follow the same trend as in the past.
‘The sectoral allocation for education is less than eight per cent and can barely provide solutions to the multifaceted problems in the sector. The allocation is inadequate and falls short of the expectations.’
While speaking on the japa syndrome, which he said had led to an overwhelming brain drain in the university system, he advised the government to increase the salaries of lecturers, pay the backlog of Earned Allowance and withheld salaries.